Short telomeresâ€”the protective caps on the ends of chromosomesâ€”have been previously linked to increased risk of death from heart disease. Now, research by scientists at UC San Francisco and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Francisco has found that change in telomere length over time is also important: heart disease patients whose telomeres shrank over time had a worse short-term prognosis than those whose telomeres stayed stable, and those whose average telomere length grew over the course of the study had a higher chance of survival.

Mobile-money services have had notable long-term effects on poverty reduction in KenyaÂ -- especially among female-headed households -- and have inspired a surprising occupation shift among women, outlines a new report.

Researchers have identified a common mechanism underlying separate forms of dystonia, a family of brain disorders that cause involuntary, debilitating and often painful movements, including twists and turns of different parts of the body. The research has led to the development of a new cell-based test that is being deployed on a large scale to identify new drug candidates to treat dystonia.